News

24Mar

Round Up: SUSU do International Womens’ Week

International Womens’ Week has always been widely recognised on our campus – and alongside the huge range of relevant seminars and discussion groups arranged by the University, we also arranged our own events with our Feminist Society.

Inspiring Women Panel

Hosted by our own VP Engagement, Ellie Cawthera, and Learning and Development Director of Lloyd Learning, Karen Lloyd, the panel of Women in Industry was a roaring success. Guest speakers were:

Lynne Parker, founder and chief exec of Funny Women, the UK’s leading community that aims to provide a space for and support women working in comedy. Funny Women has been running for twelve years and has helped to launch careers for several big-name comediennes.

Claire Gott, chartered civil engineer, currently working at the London Bridge Station Redevelopment, and Southampton alumni. During her time at the University, Claire co-fouded Cameroon Catalyst, an international development charity; her work for the charity and in promoting diversity in engineering has earned her an MBE.

Kristen Lee, or ‘Kitty Decapitate’ is a world class skater and coaches for London Roller Girls, as well as having skated for England in the World Roller Derby Games.

Discussion from the session included questions such as:

What’s your industry like for women?

What changes have you experienced in your time in the industry?

Are there more concerns for women? Has this ever affected your work?

Did you ever feel pressures to be “one of the lads”?

Have you ever experienced or witnessed sexism, or women being unable to progress in their careers due to their gender?

In which area of your industry do you think it’s most urgent that more women are trained and employed?

How can women be supported, encouraged or empowered to succeed in your industry?

What will be the biggest challenge for the generation of women behind you?

What do you enjoy most about what you do?

Karen told us, “the audience posed some tricky and thought provoking questions as well as providing insights from their own lives. It was fascinating to hear the different views in the room & it has already sparked some new connections as networking was alive and kicking.”